Chilean Mummies Reveal Ancient Nicotine Habit

LiveScience ^ | June 28, 2013 | Joseph Castro

[EveningStar]

The hair of mummies from the town of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile reveals the people in the region had a nicotine habit spanning from at least 100 B.C. to A.D. 1450.

Additionally, nicotine consumption occurred on a society-wide basis, irrespective of social status and wealth, researchers say.

[EveningStar]

ping

[John123]

Additionally, nicotine consumption occurred on a society-wide basis, irrespective of social status and wealth, researchers say.

Researcher figured this out because the skeletons had brown teeth plus nicotine patches nearby their arms.

[JRandomFreeper]

Tobacco is pretty easy to grow. I've got some in the garden now, and some curing.

/johnny

[Sawdring]

What do you do to cure it? After you cure it is it ready to smoke or chew or are there further steps which must be taken?

[JRandomFreeper]

Curing is a rather lengthy process which I'm not going to describe here. There are web sites that discuss that.

And yes, when I'm done, it's ready to chew (for tobacco processed that way) or smoke (for tobacco processed that way).

I'm smoking my own tobacco now.

Point I was making was that it's not rocket surgery. :)

/johnny

[katana]

So I take it with your own hands, all of your life, you put it in the plant beds and transferred it. You've hoed it. You've dug in it. You've sprayed it, you've chopped it, you've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.

Maybe you should run for president.

[JRandomFreeper]

Nah, I'm much cooler than Al Bore.

/johnny

[Sawdring]

Cool, you should have had the picture taken without a shirt on and had the leaves about a foot lower.

[ansel12]

My part Indian grandmother grew her own tobacco for chewing, she also slept with a gun, after her shooting up the house one night my uncles took her gun away, she then slept with a hatchet.

[SatinDoll]

Don’t give him ideas!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks EveningStar.

[Fred Nerks]

There is a great deal of evidence that the Maya used tobacco. Mayan hieroglyphics referring to tobacco have been translated. Deities, kings and shamans are often depicted smoking in Mayan art and iconography. The God L is depicted smoking a cigar on a wall relief in the Mayan city of Palenque, Mexico. A monkey deity smokes a cigarette on a vase from the late Classic period (200-800 A.D.). The Madrid Codex (pdf), one of the few Mayan historical records to survive the Christianizing zeal of the Spanish conquistadors, has multiple images of people smoking...

The History Blog

[Mad Dawgg]

That ain't no ciggy... that be a spliff!

[djf]

Many of the Solancae species of plants (the nightshade family) have trace amounts of nicotine.

In fact one could eat enough sweet potatoes to have measurable amounts of nicotine in your bloodstream. You’d have to eat a boatload of sweet potatoes, but it’s doable!

[Silentgypsy]

I wouldn’t worry about it. They’re already dead.

[Silentgypsy]

I’m part NA, too, and I’ve slept with a weapon since I was a child. I’ve always driven with one, too. I wonder if it’s some sort of ethnic paranoia or a tendency to “Be prepared” a la Girl Scouts. I quit smoking when I was 26, but I still burn occasionally.

[Silentgypsy]

Or maybe a ram’s horn brought by Jewish conquistadores.

[1010RD]

Your comment reminds me of my favorite bumper sticker:

Sure you can trust government, ask any indian.

Perhaps, you’re just channeling the history?

[Ditter]

I am not NA but I have always been “prepared” for WHAT I don't know. I was born in ‘40 and my earliest memories were about WW2, maybe that is it. I don't sleep with a gun (but there is one in the bedroom) but I always have a flashlight, knife, screwdriver, food, water and meds close at hand. I have what would be called a “bug out bag” in my vehicle and I go through and freshen it periodically. I have never understood this about myself I just accept it.